What Hoynes fails to address in his answer is that there’s no conceivable reason for the Rays to trade 4 years of Crawford (signed through 2010) for 1 year of Westbrook or Lee, who’s coming off of a regressive season. The Devil Rays are looking for pitching help more along the lines of Jeremy Sowers; so, unless the Indians want to trade their young, contract-controlled pitching, a Crawford arrival to the North Coast remains unlikely.

Many Tribe fans don’t remember that it takes Two to Tango and, while we’d all like to see the Tribe acquire Ryan Howard for Guthrie, Davis, and Gutierrez, reality remains a factor in trade talks.

I’m beginning to think that the courtship of Mark Mulder is more closely related to this fact than you might think. Mulder probably won’t be ready until June, after recovering from rotator cuff surgery, which would coincide with the Indians being able to shop Westbrook at the Trading Deadline to fill another hole (1B/RF?). If extension talks with Westbrook don’t go anywhere, the addition of Mulder would allow the Tribe to replace Westbrook with (a healthy) Mulder for 2008.

If Mulder is healthy, and can recapture the success he experienced from 2001 to 2005 (when he averaged a 18-8 record, 138 K’s, a 3.65 ERA, and a 1.25 WHIP a season over that 5-year stretch), that’s a pretty good exchange. Whether it’s worth the kind of money that the Indians are reportedly offering, particularly with the risk involved, is another argument for another day.

Of course, if the Indians sign Mulder AND extend Westbrook, the depth of starting pitching in the organization will go from great to phenomenal. The Indians wouldn’t be tied to picking up Paul Byrd’s option and could allow Adam Miller and Fausto Carmona to join the starting rotation with a more refined repertoire, as opposed to rushing them to MLB.

Next up, it’s time to go off the board as the DVR has been running in overdrive and it’s time to find out if you’ve been missing out on any recent TV offerings (particularly around 2AM) or, more importantly, if I have.

That is, of course, unless Mulder signs on the dotted line at Carnegie and Ontario in the next few days.